Sasuke's Will of Fire
by apachewarrior7
Summary: Sasuke decides to open himself up to people again, and his relationship with Sakura begins as soon as Konoha is thrust into turmoil.
1. Chapter 1

Note: This will be a series. Tell me if you want more.

Shortly after The Fourth Great Ninja War, Sasuke Uchiha returned to Konoha. Naruto and Sakura especially, were overjoyed he had given up on vengeance. He was immediately thrown in prison, with blindfolds over his eyes, which the villagers thought that would stop his dojutsu. They were wrong. However, he sat in prison anyway. He knew he deserved it. Naruto, Sakura, and Kakashi, who had been elected the Sixth Hokage tried to get him out, and finally, with the Hokage's insistence, he was released. He walked out of the prison room, and up the stairs, to see his former teammates and Sensei standing there.

He simply looked at them, unsure of what to say. "Thank you. I'm sorry." Naruto put his hand on his shoulder. "It's alright. I understand." he said. Sasuke looked up. Naruto grinned, "There's someone who _really_ wants to see you." Sasuke noticed Sakura walk towards him. "Um, Sasuke.." she said, blushing. "Will you go on a date with me?" She prepared for the usual "You're annoying" spiel. "Yes." She looked up to make sure she heard right. "I will gladly go on a date with you." he said with absolute sincerity. Her eyes glowed. Naruto and Kakashi watched from a distance as Sasuke and Sakura walked toward the local inn. Naruto just watched. "Funny, how things work out in the end, huh Kakashi-sensei?" Kakashi simply watched in shock. "Yeah. It really is."

Sasuke and Sakura sat down on the wooden benches in front of the hearth. Sakura said, "Did you know Kakashi is the Sixth Hokage?" Sasuke grinned, "He'll be perfect. Just the Hokage we need." Sakura noticed the word "we". She gasped in excitement. "You're staying at Konoha?!" Sasuke laughed. "Yes. For a while." Sakura was happy nonetheless. "Where will you go?" she asked. Sasuke said, "I'll travel a journey of Redemption. I'll protect Konoha from the shadows." Sakura thought, "He's so cool." They talked about a variety of things, from Naruto's battle with Pain, to all the new gossip. "Shikamaru and Temari!? No way!" he said, laughing. They spent hours there talking.

Sasuke dropped Sakura off at her home. She walked in her home, looked to see if Sasuke was gone, let out a girlish squeal, then immediately called all the Kunoichi of Konoha 11. Sasuke did hear, though, and smirked to himself. He woke up the next morning, and went to the Training Grounds to talk with the rest of his old classmates. Even _Kiba_ had a good time. Sasuke stayed at the training grounds, and practiced his Taijutsu and Sharingan techniques. Even after spending two days in jail, Sasuke was as strong as ever. He hadn't used his Rinnegan much though. All he knew about it was he could only use it six times. He'd read up in Konoha's library that morning about the Six paths of the Rinnegan, and decided to test some of the techniques. He'd already learned Universal Pull, but had yet to use Almighty Push. He figured he'd try that first. He calmly focused his chakra. "Rinnegan!" His base sharingan in his left, and his Rinnegan in his right. He could already feel the Rinnegan draining his chakra. He really needed to fix that. He focused up the training dummy in front of him. He felt the gravity around him. Instead of pulling it, he pushed. "Almighty Push" he shouted, and a wave of force ripped the dummy out of the ground and into the nearest tree. He felt one of his six tomoe in his Rinnegan recede. He deactivated his dojutsu, pleased with the results.

He spent the rest of his afternoon catching up with everyone, especially Naruto. They talked for about five hours, just recounting everything that had happened since Sasuke left. Naruto had just become a jonin, and everyone else was already either a jonin, not counting Ino and Tenten, who were still genin. After Naruto heard about Sasuke's success with the Rinnegan, he said, "Yeah, Nagato used that technique all the time. You learning the other six paths of pain?" Sasuke simply nodded. Naruto said, "So how was the date with Sakura?" Sasuke said, "She was..beautiful. So nice too. I had a great time." Naruto had a dumb expression on his face. "You really have changed haven't you?" Sasuke said, "Very much, yes." Sasuke went to the apartment Kakashi rented him, and had a restful sleep.

Three days later, he personally asked Sakura out on another date, which she freaked out over. He studied more and trained more, eventually learning to nullify the Rinnegan's drain on his chakra reserves. After that successful day, he woke up to the sound of alarms. He ran to the Hokage's office, where Sakura, Naruto, Shikamaru, and Sai were waiting. Kakashi stood up. "We have a problem. Hidden rain shinobi are breaching the cities outer wall." Sakura said, "Wait, we're at peace with the Land of Water. Why is the rain village attacking?" Kakashi simply stated, "They're not. They're A-class criminals, from what we can tell." Sai exclaimed, "A-Class? Why us?" Kakashi said, "You're the only available Jonin we have. Except Sasuke, of course, but we know he can handle it." Shikamaru said, "Hold on, Naruto and Sasuke are basically gods, at this point. Why do you need me, Sakura, and Sai?" Kakashi sighed. "Well, for one, Naruto and Sasuke don't have full mastery of their abilities yet, and the Tailed Beasts likely won't deem this enough of the threat to give Naruto chakra." Shikamaru nodded. "I see. Let's go." They jumped out the sides of the building. Kakashi just sat there. "I'm getting too old for this."

The five jonin ran to the outer wall. They saw a pile a dead chunin, blood everywhere, with three rain ninja standing there. One was a muscular male with leather armor. The other two were dark-haired females, appearing to be twins. Naruto yelled, "WHY THE HELL ARE YOU HERE!?" The first female simply laughed. "We're here to steal the scroll of sealing obviously." Shikamaru subtly prodded, "Why do you want _that_ scroll?" The second female said, "We're in possession of the four-tails. We need to create a jinchuriki." Shikamaru cleverly stated, "Judging by the scroll you're wearing, you have a talent for Sealing jutsu, is that correct?" The first female said, "Enough! Let's kill them and be done with it!" The first female drew her kunai, and ran at them. Sakura ran forward, and formed the "Inu" seal. "Water Style: Water Wall!" She spit out a massive jet of water, creating a massive wave, quickly pushing the enemy shinobi backwards. Sakura inhaled deeply. Sasuke was impressed. "Sakura, when did you learn Water Style?" She smiled at him. "Last week, actually." The three enemies stood up, the first female now suffering a concussion. The man said, "You foolish children! We'll kill you!" He drew a sword lined with paper bombs. Shikamaru instantly recognized it. "Shibuki. One of the great seven ninja swords. It can fire explosive tags. But how'd he get it?" He replied with, "I found it in a vault under the Rain Village. Pretty handy, huh?" He swung it, and about fifty explosive tags fired out. Sasuke quickly activated his Rinnegan. He stuck his hands out. "Almighty Push!" An invisible wave of force fired back the paper bombs into the group's direction. They were caught in the massive explosion and when the smoke cleared, their smoldering bodies lied there. Thankfully, the bodies were still intact. Sasuke deactivated his dojutsu, and he said, "They're not jonin. No way. Too unintelligent." Sai picked the scroll off of the second girl's corpse. "I can create a replica. We may be able to find more information if we do that, like the jutsu this holds." They all reported back to Kakashi, and told him the grave news. "They have the Four-Tails? This is bad. We'll bury the chunin later. First, we need to speak with the Mizukage." Sai said, "I'll send a bird to the Mist Village immediately." "Good. Naruto, I need you to attempt to speak with the Four-Tails." ordered Kakashi. They all promptly left.

Sasuke tapped Sakura on the shoulder. "That Water jutsu was very impressive. Difficult technique. Good job." Sakura blushed at his praise. "Only a B-Rank!" Sasuke said, "You want to go to the Inn?" She was amazed at how up-front he was being. "Of course! Totally!" They walked to the very same inn they went to last time. "So that jutsu you used? That's the one Pain used, right?" "Yeah, very useful and versatile." They sat down at a table. Sakura looked like something was troubling her. Sasuke debated on asking her about it, but he decided to. "Sakura, is something wrong?" She said, "Lady Tsunade wants me to learn Sage jutsu. But I just don't have enough chakra." Sasuke stared into the distance for a moment. "You could use that seal on your forehead to gain enough chakra to use it." Sakura said, "It has to store it over time. I couldn't train properly." Sasuke suddenly had an idea. "I could transport you to another dimension where time flows differently. You could get a year's' worth of chakra in ten minutes." Sakura was shocked. "You can do that?!" Sasuke laughed. "Well, not yet. But I will." Sakura said, "Thank you so much, Sasuke!"

Sasuke took her home, then crashed in his apartment. He needed to begin his Journey for Redemption soon. But he didn't want to leave Sakura. He had a tough choice on his hands. Additionally, they might need him on the Four-Tails mission. He'd stay in Konoha a little while longer. The next morning, Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura, Shikamaru, and Sai reported to the Hokage's office. Kakashi began the briefing. "Alright, so the Mizukage had no idea the rain village was in possession of the Four-Tails. She didn't know the criminals either, meaning the entire village has turned against the Allied Shinobi Forces." The room went dead quiet. Naruto said, "An entire village, against the Allied Shinobi Forces? Why? We outnumber them a hundred to one." Kakashi interjected, "Exactly. Which is precisely why we believe they have more secrets." We're giving you a month to train. That's it. Then you all plus Lee and Choji will begin the assault on Rain Village."

Path Splits

Sasuke wound up at the inn with Sakura again. They were talking about the new mission to the Rain Village. Sasuke had a surprise for Sakura that night. However, he wouldn't reveal it just yet. Sakura interrupted his thoughts. "Naruto is going to teach me Sage jutsu alongside Lady Tsunade." Sasuke said, "Good. We'll certainly need the firepower." He just gazed into Sakura's eyes for a moment. He said, "Come on, gorgeous, I have to show you something." Sakura blushed like crazy. "What had gotten into him?", she thought. He stood in front of her. He activated his Rinnegan. She felt a rushing feeling, and looked down to see a massive ocean with green skies. Then she realized she was about a thousand feet in the air. She screamed and closed her eyes. She didn't feel like she was falling. She opened her eyes to see Sasuke standing there with Sakura in the head of his Susano'o. "Sasuke you idi-" She was interrupted by Sasuke kissing her.


	2. Quick Note

This will become a series if enough people like it.


	3. Chapter 2

Naruto walked into his newly refurbished apartment, and fell into his bed. He closed his eyes and attempted to enter himself. He opened his eyes in a dark room, with tile floors slightly overflowed by water. The Four-Tails, Son Goku, stood in front of him. The Giant Monkey spoke. "Naruto, I already know why you're here." Naruto gave a small smile. "One of them stole a piece of my Chakra. A small child. With a Rinnegan." Naruto's mouth fell agape. "Rinnegan?!" Son Goku said, "He is the face of the rebellion of the Rain Village against Water country." Naruto was confused. "How was the Rinnegan acquired?" Son Goku shook his head. "I do not know. He can already use the Deva and Naraka Paths." Naruto shouted, "Already?!" Son Goku said, "You must stop him and the Rain Village, Naruto. Goodbye." Naruto's eyes shot open.

He went to look for Sasuke and Sakura, but they were nowhere to be found. He was walking to the Hokage's office, and he ran into Hinata. Naruto called, "Hey, Hinata!" She turned around, smiling but still blushing. They were a couple now, but she suffered from that blush. Naruto gave his signature fox-like grin. "You look gorgeous as always." This caused her blush to increase. Naruto and Hinata sat down at Ichiraku Ramen and continued to talk. Naruto said grimly, "I assume you've heard about Rain Village?" Hinata nodded. Naruto said, "Why do you think it's happening?" Hinata said, "Revenge, probably." Naruto nodded. They talked for a few more hours.

Hinata began to walk out, but then Naruto called, "Hinata." Hinata turned around to find her lips met by Naruto's. They made out for a few minutes. Konohamaru walked by and saw them and grumbled, "Oh, brother." Naruto returned to his apartment, and went to sleep. He walked to the Hokage's office to get his daily briefing, seeing Sakura and Sasuke talking. Naruto asked, "Where were you two last night?" Sakura blushed widly. Naruto had a look of realization. "Oohhh, I get it! Sasuke you dog! You finally-" He couldn't finish his sentence as Sakura sent him flying about twenty feet back. "Naruto, you idiot!" Every other Shinobi there laughed. Kakashi said, "Now that that's out the way, you are expected to train very hard, as due to the intel we got from Naruto, we now know the Rain Village possesses a Rinnegan." The Konoha 11 burst into panic. Kakashi said, "Everyone, please calm down. We've fought Rinnegan users before. We know their techniques. However, you need to train extra hard all the same."

The meeting was adjourned, and Naruto saw Shikamaru and Temari. Naruto asked, "Hey Shikamaru, can I borrow Temari for a while?" Shikamaru nodded. Temari said, "Naruto, what's up?" Naruto explained, "I have a Wind Nature just like you, but I can only use the Rasenshuriken. I'd like to learn some Wind jutsu." Temari said, "Alright. I recommend starting with the Blade of Wind jutsu. You can shape wind chakra into a invisible blade, perfect for your combat style." Naruto went to the library to research the jutsu. He found some nice tips, but he learned by doing. He went to training field 11. He focused his chakra into the shape of a blade, seeing the thin outline of the blade. He grinded his chakra together, attempting a change in chakra nature. The Blade made a roaring sound. Naruto had mastered the jutsu on his first try.

⇐===========================Path Splits=========================


	4. Chapter 4

Note: Feedback would be appreciated. Thank you!

Sakura left the Hokage's office after her morning briefing, with the thought of the Rain village's Rinnegan on her mind. She went to see Sasuke. She found him at the training fields, training his Rinnegan and Taijutsu. She covered his eyes from behind. "Guess who?" Sasuke said, "Well I can sense your energy with my Rinnegan…" Sakura said, "Aw Sasuke, you're no fun." He laughed. Sakura lowered her head, "Can we do what we did yesterday?" Sasuke poked her forehead. "After training." She felt the same rushing feeling, finding herself on the ground in the same dimension. She immediately felt her seal absorbing an insane amount of chakra.

Sakura asked, "Sasuke, can't you learn Sage jutsu?" Sasuke thought for a minute. "I suppose I could, but it's not really my style." Sakura simply accepted this answer. They talked for a few minutes, and then Sakura said, "I'm so bored." Sasuke smiled, "I have something to pass the time." He walked closer to her. She gently started to kiss him. He wrapped his arms around her shoulders. They made out for a while. Then Sasuke pulled away, "We need to go back." Sakura looked disappointed. Sasuke laughed. Purple energy surrounded them, and they found themselves back at the training ground. Sasuke body flickered away.

Sakura went to see Lady Tsunade, and Naruto was there. Tsunade said, "Hello, Sakura. Ready to learn Slug Sage jutsu?" Sakura said, "Slug?" Naruto said, "Oh yeah, there are three types of Sages. Slug, Snake, and Toad, like me." Tsunade said, "I know about Slug, so you'll be learning that one." Sakura cringed, "Slugs are ugly!" Tsunade rolled her eyes, if you master it, you won't gain any slug-like features." Sakura looked shocked. "If I master it?!" Naruto laughed, "Let's just get started. You already know about Sage Mode. To enter Sage Mode, you need to draw Nature energy into your body." Sakura said, "Yeah, I've read about that." Naruto said, "Good. That makes this a lot easier. You need to learn to feel Nature energy , and combine it with your normal chakra." Sakura said, "Okay, so where do I start?" Naruto said, "You have to stand perfectly still." Sakura began to sit down. Naruto said, "We should do this outside." They went outside, and Sakura sat in a meditative pose. She sat there for about five minutes, and said, "Is anything happening?" Naruto said, "You aren't being still. You have to surrender to nature." Sakura said sarcastically, "How zen." Naruto made a face.

"I might have something to help actually." He pulled out a bottle filled with a greenish fluid. He put some of it on his finger, and rubbed some of it on her forehead. Sakura yelled, "What is that?!" Naruto said, "Slug Oil." "I think I'm gonna be sick." Naruto said, "It will help you draw in Nature energy." Sakura groaned, "Fine, if you say so." She noticed Tsunade was carrying a black stick. "What's that stick for, Lady Tsunade?" "Nothing." Tsunade said quickly. Sakura relaxed and sat still. She felt a serene sense of calm wash over her. She became enveloped by it. Naruto saw blue antennae sprout from her forehead, and her skin become pale. She began to shrink. Naruto nodded at Tsunade. Sakura felt a sharp pain in her shoulder. "Ow, damn it!" Tsunade was holding the stick over her. Sakura said, "What the hell, Lady Tsunade?!" Naruto said, "You were taking in too much Nature energy. If that happens, you turn into a Slug forever. That stick purges all Nature energy from you out." Sakura sighed, and nodded. She attempted to try again. The antennae sprouted again, her skin becoming white with a teal outline. Naruto whispered, "I think she's got it." Sakura opened her eyes. She said, "Did it work?" Tsunade pulled out a mirror. Sakura gazed back into her pitch black eyes and sluglike features. She screamed, "AH, I'M SO UGLY!" Her face returned back to normal. Sakura said, "What happened?" Naruto said, "You lost your concentration." Sakura said, "Am I going to look like that every time I use Sage Mode?" Naruto thought for a moment. "Probably. At least you're a quick study." Sakura said, "Oh, man."

⇐===========================Path Splits=========================


End file.
